Topic: Our Attack - meaning people at the club now - not players you fancy signing

[RyanBabel19]

You don't need 3 seasons to know when a player doesn't fit a style of player. That's why Brendan got shot of Carroll straight away and why Rafa sold Keane at a loss 5 months after he bought him.

Balotelli's all round game may improve but he's never gonna do enough defensive work like the SAS did, nor deputise for Sturridge in an acceptable way.

I'll be shocked if he's here past this season. I predict he'll be sent on loan to an Italian team.

Who says he NEEDS to do as much defensive work as Sturridge and Suarez did together ? We don't press as a team as much as we did last season but that doesn't matter ? He's working hard defensively at present and has since he came here, he drops back from up top to pressure the opposition defenders during games. I remember seeing Lallana press about 3 or 4 players in a row against everton(?), do you know who followed him up and tried to assist in his pressing ? FUCKING NO ONE. The lack of workrate is not a balotelli problem, its a team problem.

If you feel he's not right for the team thats fair enough, but why not just support the lad instead of writing him off altogether ? He's having a hard time, he's struggling for goals, confidence, he wants to do well and he's trying hard, he needs support and people would rather write him off than back the lad. Apparently this is the best support in the world. Its fucking laughable.

I feel like it would do some good for people to read his recent interview and see that he's very honest about his own game. I'll never sit and slag off a player who's giving their all. Were he just not bothering, not trying to help his teammates, fair play write him off, otherwise, support liverpool football clubs players

[Brentieke]

Think Lambert must be pulling his hair out watching the standard of striker keeping him out of the side.

Looking at recent pictures he's already pulled out his beard 

And the crux of the matter is that Lambert has been even shitter than Balotelli, and that's fucking saying something.

[walshys_mullet]

Theres nothing wrong with Balotelli, hes just the wrong type of player. With a man up with him hes fine, but we were knocking balls up to him all afternoon that we'd expect sturridge to thrive off, hes not a Sturridge style player at all. Hes a half target, half striker, that works well with people around him. too many times today he was isolated.

As for his miss that happens, remember Saunders and Crouch in similar veins of form before they started banging them in.

I think he will offer us something, he just does not suit 4-2-3-1

[Beninger]

Me too.

The diamond gets the best out of Balotelli, Sterling, Sturridge, Coutinho, Henderson, Gerrard and allows space for the full backs to attack. It's our ideal formation.

Unfortunately, because of the complete ineptness of our scouts and transfer committee, we can't play the diamond because they failed to find a striker with enough mobility to deputize for the injury prone Sturridge and got us two forward with such limited mobility that they are completely incapable of playing together.

At the end of the day, that's the bottom line. Siberian gulags, I tell you.

Who would you have gone for?  I'd have had a closer look at Lacazette.  I wouldn't have completely discounted Balo though.  He needs at least another game with a good striker like Daniel before I say he's not made for us.  The first (only?) game they played together wasn't half bad...

[walshys_mullet]

I agree with Brentie though - our transfer committee need a rocket up their arse, i dont think they are doing a great job so far.

[Carlito Roberto]

Brendan may be trying to change the way we attack.

He might well be.

Why he would want to change the attacking blueprint from last season is anybody's guess.

[Funky_Gibbons]

Crouch fit the system very well. And we had the players to get the best out of him. A proper winger in Kewell, the best crosser in the league in Gerrard and players buzzing off him like Cisse or Luis Garcia. It's a bit of a crap comparison to be honest, no offence. I don't think you understood the point I'm making is not that Balotelli is shit, it's that he just doesn't fit the way we play.

Lazar Markovic has been crap so far too but he fits the way we play.

But we're not paying "the way we play" are we. There has only been a few games where we have got anywhere near "the way we play", one of them was away to Spurs when Balotelli played.

The problem is he isn't suited to play alone up front but he has still managed to get into decent goal scoring positions. If he puts that chance away today then his performance will be judged totally differently.

[Tony19:6]

And the crux of the matter is that Lambert has been even shitter than Balotelli, and that's fucking saying something.

At least he cares.

[McrRed]

Cheeky bid for Vargas?

[Beninger]

Theres nothing wrong with Balotelli, hes just the wrong type of player. With a man up with him hes fine, but we were knocking balls up to him all afternoon that we'd expect sturridge to thrive off, hes not a Sturridge style player at all. Hes a half target, half striker, that works well with people around him. too many times today he was isolated.

As for his miss that happens, remember Saunders and Crouch in similar veins of form before they started banging them in.

I think he will offer us something, he just does not suit 4-2-3-1

Honestly I think Suarez and Daniel have both looked a bit isolated alone up top as well.  They could make runs into the channels all day, but without runs from others there wasn't much for them unless they created it themselves (both are absolutely fantastic at that, many strikers are not).  He has been making runs but a lot of the time he either isn't found, or if he is, he's not the greatest at beating the man with pace or with dribbling.  He really needs a partner...

[Beninger]

He might well be.

Why he would want to change the attacking blueprint from last season is anybody's guess.

Well, I think he had an idea with Sturridge and A.N. Other in the vein of Lambert and Balo.  To be fair, the Spurs game showed some great link up with Balo and Daniel...

[RyanBabel19]

Honestly I think Suarez and Daniel have both looked a bit isolated alone up top as well.  They could make runs into the channels all day, but without runs from others there wasn't much for them unless they created it themselves (both are absolutely fantastic at that, many strikers are not).  He has been making runs but a lot of the time he either isn't found, or if he is, he's not the greatest at beating the man with pace or with dribbling.  He really needs a partner...

Very well said

[Funky_Gibbons]

He might well be.

Why he would want to change the attacking blueprint from last season is anybody's guess.

Because one of those players has left?

Because when teams dropped deep and narrow against us we didn't have another threat? (and that tactic is going to be used against us more often this season)

In the six games we lost last season we only scored three goals and neither Sturridge or Suarez scored any of them. If teams set-up to defend against us we struggled at times.

Our biggest problem is losing both Sturridge and Suarez from last season, if Sturridge was fit I think we'd be looking much better.

[QC]

At least he cares.

I care too. Play me instead?

[Cid]

So our attack is dreadful, our defence is worse and our midfield is a bit shit too.

Going well, this season.

[jfc]

Balotelli doesn't do the basics for me, simple things such as movement , passes at the right time and just generally being on the move.  Hell if we had Charlie Austin up top for us he'd be far better than Balotelli, nearly anyone would be at this moment in time

[Brentieke]

Who would you have gone for?  I'd have had a closer look at Lacazette.  I wouldn't have completely discounted Balo though.  He needs at least another game with a good striker like Daniel before I say he's not made for us.  The first (only?) game they played together wasn't half bad...

Anyone with pace, who makes forward runs and is half decent in front of goals. Pretty sure the people that get paid thousands of pounds to look at players can find us at least one.

I agree with Brentie though - our transfer committee need a rocket up their arse, i dont think they are doing a great job so far.

Think most would agree, alot won't admit it though.

Honestly I think Suarez and Daniel have both looked a bit isolated alone up top as well.  They could make runs into the channels all day, but without runs from others there wasn't much for them unless they created it themselves (both are absolutely fantastic at that, many strikers are not).  He has been making runs but a lot of the time he either isn't found, or if he is, he's not the greatest at beating the man with pace or with dribbling.  He really needs a partner...

Completely agree on all counts. A major facet of Suarez that alot of people on here completely ignored when he left is that he made a shitload of goals for himself. 2 goals vs WBA, the 3 free kicks he scored, the 2 against Norwich from outside the area just off the top of my head... He wasn't solely dependent on service.

Our biggest problem is losing both Sturridge and Suarez from last season, if Sturridge was fit I think we'd be looking much better.

Agreed we would. That doesn't change the fact that every single soul involved with Liverpool FC knew that Sturridge was injury prone and that we'd lost Suarez and thus needed a striker that could be a Sturridge lite during his lay offs.

That they failed to get us a player like that is a dereliction of duty and a sacking offence in my opinion. There is absolutely no excuse.

[Beninger]

So our attack is dreadful, our defence is worse and our midfield is a bit shit too.

Going well, this season.

But we're in 5th!  Fortunate, actually...

[Brentieke]

At least he cares.

So do the thousands on here. And you'd probably find a few that are faster than Lambert.

[Carlito Roberto]

Well, I think he had an idea with Sturridge and A.N. Other in the vein of Lambert and Balo.  To be fair, the Spurs game showed some great link up with Balo and Daniel...

It did mate, they looked good together that game.

Balotelli gives us a different option as a target man, but I'm not sure the plan was to bring in 2 target men. The first thing Rodgers did as manager was usher Carroll out the door because he didn't fit our style of play. It was a brave move given how much Carroll cost, but the correct one. We obviously tried for Sanchez and Remy this summer, but weren't able to get either deal over the line. In the end we decided to roll the dice on Balotelli, despite his attributes being massively at odds with what made us such an attacking force last season. It's difficult to justify, short of it being an elaborate punt.

[Beninger]

Anyone with pace, who makes forward runs and is half decent in front of goals. Pretty sure the people that get paid thousands of pounds to look at players can find us at least one.

That they failed to get us a player like that is a dereliction of duty and a sacking offence in my opinion. There is absolutely no excuse.

Remy was an idea, and it's possible that Balo was a bit of panic.  But I don't think Rodgers didn't want him.  There really didn't appear to be much going on.  Maybe we thought we could buy and bring in Origi this season before it was halted, tried with Remy, and then it all went to shit with only Balotelli left.  There's probably a few out there, even rough diamonds, but we don't have any inside knowledge, so it's hard for me to pass judgement...

[Beninger]

It did mate, they looked good together that game.

Balotelli gives us a different option as a target man, but I'm not sure the plan was to bring in 2 target men. The first thing Rodgers did as manager was usher Carroll out the door because he didn't fit our style of play. It was a brave move given how much Carroll cost, but the correct one. We obviously tried for Sanchez and Remy this summer, but weren't able to get either deal over the line. In the end we decided to roll the dice on Balotelli, despite his attributes being massively at odds with what made us such an attacking force last season. It's difficult to justify, short of it being an elaborate punt.

I think if Rodgers decided to have a punt on a jaded talent like Balotelli, and it doesn't pan out, I don't think it was the wrong idea.  It is possible that it was the only viable option at the time.  We don't really know.  I don't think we got shafted if it all goes tits up, because he can still be moved on without massive loss, and I think we are also in a position financially to keep him if we decide to.  I'm hopeful that the January window will provide us with more options if we need to make a move then...

[Tony19:6]

So do the thousands on here. And you'd probably find a few that are faster than Lambert.

Well speed is only part of it...

But no matter whether you agree with someones opinion caring about LFC is something everyone on here has in common (I think). It's why we post.

I just don't think Balotelli gives a shit about LFC.

[Fromola]

It hit me today.

Balotelli is a stronger, better at penalties version of David Ngog.
Ricky Lambert is a slow, Scouse, older version of Erik Meijer.
Fabio Borini is an older version of Fabio Borini.

Until Sturridge comes back, that's our lot. Scouts need to be sent to a Siberian Gulag.

Balotelli today and Lambert when he's started have been as bad as anything the likes of Ngog or Dundee produced. Borini's a glorified Erik Meijer as well in that he'll run around like a lunatic but not actually do anything.

How have we gone from S&S to this?

[Fromola]

Just look at the type of player he is. He just doesn't fit in. It's nothing to do with blowing any horn. It's to do with simple scouting.

How the fuck did they think he would fit the way we play? It makes no sense. He's the complete antithesis to Suarez and Sturridge in every single possible way.

Same principle with Mignolet. There's no strategic thought at the club at all half the time. You've got to know the type of player you want and then make your list. The transfer committee are either totally useless or the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing.

[wemmick]

I might be in the minority, but I really don't think our attack is poor. Balotelli, Sterling, Lallana, Henderson, Coutinho, and Gerrard have all been in very good positions near the opposition's box. I think we're just not playing with enough patience thereafter. The lads are either shooting on sight or audaciously trying to walk it in, rather than just being comfortable playing a patient, short passing game until someone slips in behind. The lads are so desperate to score they are making bad decisions at the pivotal moment. That for me is the difference between this year and last. We're on the verge of scoring two or three goals per game, but we must calm down to get there.

[Brentieke]

Remy was an idea, and it's possible that Balo was a bit of panic.  But I don't think Rodgers didn't want him.  There really didn't appear to be much going on.  Maybe we thought we could buy and bring in Origi this season before it was halted, tried with Remy, and then it all went to shit with only Balotelli left.  There's probably a few out there, even rough diamonds, but we don't have any inside knowledge, so it's hard for me to pass judgement...

Point is, this is a trend of fucking up every transfer window.

We've had one truly succesfull window since winter 08. One in fucking 14. We constantly  buy players that don't fit a system or make no sense at all, or replace key players with players that are nothing like them.

It's shambolic.

 

[Brentieke]

Well speed is only part of it...

But no matter whether you agree with someones opinion caring about LFC is something everyone on here has in common (I think). It's why we post.

I just don't think Balotelli gives a shit about LFC.

Suarez didn't give a shit about LFC. He just wanted to win football matches so bad he'd break his grandmother's ankles to do it.

[Fromola]

Theres nothing wrong with Balotelli, hes just the wrong type of player. With a man up with him hes fine, but we were knocking balls up to him all afternoon that we'd expect sturridge to thrive off, hes not a Sturridge style player at all. Hes a half target, half striker, that works well with people around him. too many times today he was isolated.

As for his miss that happens, remember Saunders and Crouch in similar veins of form before they started banging them in.

I think he will offer us something, he just does not suit 4-2-3-1

Problems with this:

1) He'll only be effective if alongside Sturridge but he won't offer half of what Suarez did alongside him.

2) We needed a striker who could cover for Sturridge not one who can't play without him.

3) Sturridge will be injured for a lot of the season

4) We lost 30+ goals last season from Suarez (let alone all the assists which you won't get from Mario). We'll be lucky if Balotelli hits double figures and Sturridge won't play as many games as last season at this rate so his numbers may drop.

We knew we needed an Alexis Sanchez type of player to come in over the summer. We couldn't attract him which was a big blow but to go from him to Balotelli is crazy.  Totally different players. Rodgers has come out and said today that Balotelli is totally different to Suarez. Why sign him then? He's not a goalscorer and he's not a workhorse or a player who'll set many goals up. Alexis is the closest we could have got.

[Beninger]

Point is, this is a trend of fucking up every transfer window.

We've had one truly succesfull window since winter 08. One in fucking 14. We constantly  buy players that don't fit a system or make no sense at all, or replace key players with players that are nothing like them.

It's shambolic.

 

Well I think we can only talk about what this current team has done.  Rodgers is making the final decisions, and he's gotten many of the players he's wanted.  But looking at our attack, we missed out on our first 2 choices, lost Suarez, and then Sturridge has been injured.  Balotelli wasn't first choice for sure, but Rodgers may be looking at making the best out of his situation, but Daniel not being available (yes, I know they should all know he's prone to it) has put a bit of a spanner in the works.  We've seen what can be done with those two up top for just one game.  We haven't been able to replicate it and you can tell Rodgers is working on it with the changes he's been making while Daniel has been out.

[Tony19:6]

Suarez didn't give a shit about LFC. He just wanted to win football matches so bad he'd break his grandmother's ankles to do it.

I don't think Balotelli is arsed if he wins football matches or not.

Anyway I'll leave it there.

[SerbianScouser]

A major facet of Suarez that alot of people on here completely ignored when he left is that he made a shitload of goals for himself.

And what does that tell you? Even with SAS we were never a team that creates tap-ins or sitters for them. There where no recognized patterns of attacking play or partnerships between wingers and fullbacks - we didn`t work enough on fundamental principles of our attacking play and the ideas we want to implement in the final third. Just giving the ball to SAS and getting out of their way was effective and but we are now paying the price for it as we neglected the part of play that doesn`t mean just give the ball to SAS and watch them do their thing.

Now we have to start from scratch and realize we have 3 strikers who can`t create anything on their own. The fact we are not using Moreno in the final third enough and we weren`t using Coutinho properly speaks volumes of how much work we have ahead of us and how much we neglected certain parts of our attacking play in the recent past.

[Beninger]

Problems with this:

1) He'll only be effective if alongside Sturridge but he won't offer half of what Suarez did alongside him.

2) We needed a striker who could cover for Sturridge not one who can't play without him.

3) Sturridge will be injured for a lot of the season

We knew we needed an Alexis Sanchez type of player to come in over the summer. We couldn't attract him which was a big blow but to go from him to Balotelli is crazy.  Totally different players. Rodgers has come out and said today that Balotelli is totally different to Suarez. Why sign him then? He's not a goalscorer and he's not a workhorse or a player who'll set many goals up. Alexis is the closest we could have got.

We tried for Remy as well.  If we don't go for Balotelli, who is it we should go for?  It was clear, I thought, that the options for strikers were very few and far between last window.  I think Rodgers is trying to get the best out of him.  I also think that Balotelli doesn't necessarily need Sturridge, but I think all but the very best in the world need to have a quality player to link up with that suits the way they play.  I hope we go for another type of Sturridge player in January but I'm not sure our options were that great last window...

[Brentieke]

I don't think Balotelli is arsed if he wins football matches or not.

Anyway I'll leave it there.

Preaching to the choir here mate. But I'd still rather have him than Lambert, who is the slowest player I've ever seen play for us.

And that's saying something considering how little I've ever rate Balotelli.

[ac]

Some of us were saying exactly that before we signed him but, as usual, the "every signing we make is world class" crew on here shouted everyone down.

Absolutely inept scouting and planning, yet again.

Absolutely correct, but it ultimately boils down to Rodgers. If he was not happy with the player selected by the scouts he should have asked for a different selection - even West Ham's new strikers would have been a better fit than Balotelli and Lambert. Rodgers needs help, help with the defensive coaching and help with selecting players. He needs to take a leaf out of SAF's book and surround himself with better people to complement his weaknesses

[The 5th Benitle]

Some of us were saying exactly that before we signed him but, as usual, the "every signing we make is world class" crew on here shouted everyone down.

Absolutely inept scouting and planning, yet again.

Do you have any idea how boring it is that you keep posting the same thing over, and over, and over again?

[Brentieke]

Do you have any idea how boring it is that you keep posting the same thing over, and over, and over again?

Isn't this why you have the hide posts  function?

[mkferdy]

Point is, this is a trend of fucking up every transfer window.

We've had one truly succesfull window since winter 08. One in fucking 14. We constantly  buy players that don't fit a system or make no sense at all, or replace key players with players that are nothing like them.

It's shambolic.

It's been such a strange transfer window. Some the the signings seem to fit last seasons style both fullbacks, Lallana they made sense to me. Some of the signings just seem bizarre, signing both Balotelli and Lambert, spending £20million on a left sided cb when we spent £18 million the summer before on a left sided cb. markovic seems more suited to a 4-3-3 it's such a mis mash of signings, some seem to fit last years style others in my opinion seem opportunistic signings or ones representing apparent value.

If the plan was to change the system to a 4-2-3-1 during a champions league season when the manager has less time on the training pitch then it's a very risky strategy. Questions should be asked.

[The 5th Benitle]

Isn't this why you have the hide posts  function?

Not really on for a moderator to use it to be honest, would be shirking

Seriously though, I don't really understand why you keep repeating yourself, there were pages and pages of it the other day (some in entirely the wrong thread)

I'm by no means saying you're the only one by the way.

[goalspaytherent]

Balotelli  needs to be taken out out of the firing line and replaced with another striker of equal standing ......who can be ripped to bits for being as shite at finishing as Balotelli was to begin with ......and then the cycle begins again